THE DIVINE INSTITUTES

BOOK IV

OF TRUE WISDOM AND RELIGION

CHAP. XVI.--OF THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST; THAT IT WAS FORETOLD.

I come now to the passion itself, which is often cast in our teeth as a reproach:(11)
that we worship a man, and one who was visited and tormented with remarkable
punishment: that I may show that this very passion was undergone by Him in
accordance with a great and divine plan, and that goodness and truth and wisdom
are contained in it alone. For if He had been most happy on the earth, and
had reigned through all His life in the greatest prosperity, no wise man would
either have believed Him to be a God, or judged Him worthy of divine honour:
which is the case with those who are destitute of true divinity, who not only
look up(12) to perishable riches, and frail power, and the advantages arising
from the benefit of another, but even consecrate them, and knowingly do service
to the memory of the dead, worshipping fortune when it is now extinguished,
which the wise never regarded as an object of worship even when alive and present
with them. For nothing among earthly things can be venerable and worthy of
heaven; but it is virtue alone, and justice alone, which can be judged a true
and heavenly, and perpetual good, because it is neither given to any one, nor
taken away. And since Christ came upon earth, supplied with virtue and righteousness,
yea rather, since He Himself is virtue and Himself righteousness, He descended
that He might teach it and mould the character of man. And having performed
this office and embassy from God, on account of this very virtue which He at
once taught and practised, He deserved, and was able, to be believed a God
by all nations. Therefore, when a great multitude from time to time flocked
to Him, either on account of the righteousness which He taught or on account
of the miracles which He worked, and heard His precepts, and believed that
He was sent by God, and that He was the Son of God, then the rulers and priests
of the Jews, excited with anger because they were rebuked by Him as sinners,
and perverted by envy, because, while the multitude flocked to Him, they saw
themselves despised and deserted, and (that which was the crowning point of
their guilt) blinded by folly and error, and unmindful of the instructors sent
from heaven, and of the prophets, they caballed against Him, and conceived
the impious design of putting Him to death, and torturing Him: of which the
prophets had long before written.

For both
David, in the beginning of his Psalms, foreseeing in spirit what a crime
they were about
to commit,
says,(1) "Blessed is the man who hath
not walked in the way of the ungodly;" and Solomon in the book of Wisdom
used these words:(2) "Let us defraud the righteous, for he is unpleasant
to us, and upbraideth us with our offences against the law. He maketh his boast
that he has the knowledge of God; and he calleth himself the Son of God. He
is made to reprove(3) our thoughts: it grieveth us even to look upon him: for
his life is not like the life of others; his ways are of another fashion.(4)
We are counted by him as triflers,(5) he withdraweth himself from our ways
as from filthiness; he commendeth greatly(6) the latter end of the just, and
boasteth that he has God for his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words
be true; let us prove what end(7) he shall have let us examine him with rebukes
and torments that we may know his meekness,(8) and prove his patience; let
us condemn him to a shameful death. Such things have they imagined, and have
gone astray. For their own folly hath blinded them, and they do not understand
the mysteries(9) of God." Does he not describe that impious design entered
into by the wicked against God, so that he clearly appears to have been present?
But from Solomon, who foretold these things, to the time of their accomplishment,
ten hundred and ten years intervened. We feign nothing; we add nothing. They
who performed the actions had these accounts; they, against whom these things
were spoken, read them. But even now the inheritors of their name and guilt
have these accounts, and in their daily readings re-echo their own condemnation
as foretold by the voice of the prophets; nor do they ever admit them into
their heart, which is also itself a part of their condemnation. The Jews, therefore,
being often reproved by Christ, who upbraided them with their sins and iniquities,
and being almost deserted by the people, were stirred up to put Him to death.

Now His
humility emboldened them to this deed. For when they read with what great
power and glory the
Son
of God was about to descend from heaven, but
on the other hand saw Jesus humble, peaceful, of low condition,(10) without
comeliness, they did not believe that He was the Son of God, being ignorant
that two advents on His part were foretold by the prophets: the first, obscure
in humility of the flesh; the other, manifest in the power of His majesty.
Of the first David thus speaks in the seventy-first Psalm:(11) "He shall
descend as rain upon a fleece; and in His days shall righteousness spring forth,
and abundance of peace, as long as the moon is lifted up." For as rain,
if it descends upon a fleece, cannot be perceived, because it makes no sound;
so he said that Christ would come to the earth without exciting the notice(12)
of any, that He might teach righteousness and peace. Isaiah also thus spoke:(13) "Lord,
who bath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
We made proclamation(14) before Him as children, and as a root in a thirsty
land: He has no form nor glory; and we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness.
But His form was without honour, and defective beyond the rest of men. He is
a man acquainted(15) with grief, and knowing how to endure infirmity, because
He turned(16) His face away from us; and He was not esteemed. He carries our
sins, and He endures pain for us: and we thought that He Himself(1) was in
pain and grief, and vexation. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He
was bruised(2) for our offences; the chastisement(3) of our peace was upon
Him, by His bruises(4) we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and
God hath delivered Him up for our sins." And in the same manner the Sibyl
spoke: "Though an object of pity, dishonoured, without form, He will give
hope to those who are objects of pity." On account of this humility they
did not recognise their God, and entered into the detestable design of depriving
Him of life, who had come to give them life.

CHAP. XVII.--OF THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE JEWS, AND THEIR HATRED AGAINST JESUS.

But they
alleged other causes for their anger and envy, which they bore shut up s
within in their
hearts--namely,
that He destroyed the obligation(6) of
the law given by Moses; that is, that He did not rest(7) on the Sabbath, but
laboured for the good s of men; that He abolished circumcision; that He took
away the necessity of abstaining from the flesh of swine;(9)--in which things
the mysteries of the Jewish religion consist. On this account, therefore, the
rest of the people, who had not yet withdrawn(10) to Christ, were incited by
the priests to regard Him as impious, because He destroyed the obligation of
the law of God, though He did this not by His own judgment, but according to
the will of God, and after the predictions of the prophets. For Micah announced
that He would give a new law, in these terms:(11) "The law shall go forth
of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among
many people, and rebuke strong nations."(12) For the former law, which
was given by Moses, was not given on Mount Zion, but on Mount Horeb;(13) and
the Sibyl shows that it would come to pass that this law would be destroyed
by the Son of God:--

"But
when all these things which I told you shall be accomplished, thenall the
law is fulfilled
with
respect to Him."

But even
Moses himself, by whom the law was given which they so tenaciously maintain,
though they
have fallen
away from God, and have not acknowledged
God, had foretold that it would come to pass that a very great prophet would
be sent by God, who should be above the law, and be a bearer of the will of
God to men. In Deuteronomy he thus left it written:(14) "And the Lord
said unto me, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like
unto thee; and I will put my word in His month, and He shall speak unto them
all that I shall command Him. And whosoever will not hearken to those things
which that Prophet shall speak in my name, I will require(15) it of him." The
Lord evidently announced by the law-giver himself that He was about to send
His own Son-that is, a law alive, anti present(16) in person, and destroy that
old law given by a mortal,(17) that by Him who was eternal He might ratify
afresh a law which was eternal.

In like
manner, Isaiah(18) thus prophesied concerning the abolition of circumcision: "Thus
saith the Lord to the men of Judah who dwell at Jerusalem, Break up your fallow
ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord your God,
and take away the foreskins of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire,
and burn that none can quench it." Also Moses himself says:(19) "In
the last days the Lord shall circumcise thine heart to love the Lord thy God." Also
Jesus(20) the son of Nun, his successor, said: "And the Lord said unto
Jesus, Make thee knives of flint very sharp, and sit and circumcise the children
of Israel the second time." He said that this second circumcision would
be not of the flesh, as the first was, which the Jews practise even now, but
of the heart and spirit, which was delivered by Christ, who was the true Jesus.
For the prophet does not say, "And the Lord said unto me," but "unto
Jesus," that he might show that God was not speaking of him, but of Christ,
to whom God was then speaking. For that Jesus represented(21) Christ: for when
he was at first called Auses,(22) Moses, foreseeing the future, ordered that
he should be called Jesus; that since he had been chosen as the leader of the
warfare against Amalek, who was the enemy of the children of Israel, he might
both subdue the adversary by the emblem(1) of the name, and lead the people
into the land of promise. And for this reason he was also successor to Moses,
to show that the new law given by Christ Jesus was about to succeed to the
old law which was given by Moses. For that circumcision of the flesh is plainly
irrational; since, if God had so willed it, He might so have formed man from
the beginning, that he should be without a foreskin. But it was a figure of
this second circumcision, signifying that the breast is to be laid bare; that
is, that we ought to live with an open and simple heart, since that part of
the body which is circumcised has a kind of resemblance to the heart, and is
to be treated with reverence. On this account God ordered that it should be
laid bare, that by this argument He might admonish us not to have our breast
hidden(2) in obscurity; that is, not to veil any shameful deed within the secrets
of conscience. This is the circumcision of the heart of which the prophets
speak, which God transferred from the mortal flesh to the soul, which alone
is about to endure. For being desirous of promoting our life and salvation
in accordance with His own goodness, in that circumcision He hath set before
us repentance, that if we lay open our hearts,--that is if we confess our sins
and make satisfaction to God,--we shall obtain pardon, which is denied to those
who are obstinate and conceal their faults, by Him who regards not the outward
appearance, as man does, but the innermost secrets of the heart.(3)

The forbidding of the flesh of swine also has the same intention; for when
God commanded them to abstain from this, He willed that this should be especially
understood, that they should abstain from sins and impurities. For this animal
is filthy and unclean,(4) and never looks up to heaven,(5) but prostrates itself
to the earth with its whole body and face: it is always the slave of its appetite
and food; nor during its life can it afford any other service, as the other
animals do, which either afford a vehicle for riding,(6) or aid in the cultivation
of the fields, or draw waggons by their neck, or carry burthens on their back,
or furnish a covering with their skins,(7) or abound with a supply of milk,
or keep watch for guarding our houses. Therefore He forbade them to use the
flesh of the pig for food, that is, not to imitate the life of swine, which
are nourished only for death; lest, by devoting themselves to their appetite
and pleasures, they should be useless for working righteousness, and should
be visited with death. Also that they should not immerse themselves in foul
lusts, as the sow, which wallows in the mire;(8) of that they do not serve
earthly images, and thus defile themselves with mud: for they do bedaub themselves
with mud who worship gods, that is, who worship mud and earth. Thus all the
precepts of the Jewish law have for their object the setting forth of righteousness,
since they are given in a mysterious(9) manner, that under the figure of carnal
things those which are spiritual might be known.

CHAP. XVIII.--OF THE LORD'S PASSION, AND THAT IT WAS FORETOLD.

When,
therefore, Christ fulfilled these things which God would have done, and which
He foretold many
ages before
by His prophets, incited by these things,
and ignorant of the sacred Scriptures, they conspired together to condemn their
God. And though He knew that this would come to pass, and repeatedly(10) said
that He must suffer and be put to death for the salvation of many, nevertheless
He withdrew Himself with His disciples, not that He might avoid that which
it was necessary for Him to undergo and endure, but that He might show what
ought to take place in every persecution, that no one should appear to have
fallen into it through his own fault: and He announced that it would come to
pass that He should be betrayed by one of them. And thus Judas, induced by
a bribe, delivered up to the Jews the Son of God. But they took and brought
Him before Pontius Pilate, who at that time was administering the province
of Syria as governor,(11) and demanded that He should be crucified, though
they laid nothing else to His charge except that He said that He was the Son
of God, the King of the Jews; also His own saying,(12) "Destroy this temple,
which was forty-six years in building, and in three days I will raise it up
again without hands,"--signifying that His passion would shortly take
place, and that He, having been put to death by the Jews, would rise again
on the third day. For He Himself was the true temple of God. They inveighed
against these expressions of His, as ill-omened and impious. And when Pilate
had heard these things, and He said nothing in His own defence, he gave sentence
that there appeared nothing deserving of condemnation in Him. But those most
unjust accusers, together with the people whom they had stirred up, began to
cry out, and with loud voices to demand His crucifixion.

Then Pontius(1) was overpowered both by their outcries, and by the instigation
of Herod the tetrarch,(2) who feared lest he should be deposed from his sovereignty.
He did not, however, himself pass sentence, but delivered Him up to the Jews,
that they themselves might judge Him according to their law.(3) Therefore they
led Him away when He had been scourged with rods, and before they crucified
Him they mocked Him; for they put upon Him a scarlet(4) robe, and a crown of
thorns, and saluted Him as King, and gave Him gall for food, and mingled for
Him vinegar to drink. After these things they spat upon His face, and struck
Him with the palms of their hands; and when the executioners s themselves contended
about His garments, they cast lots among themselves for His tunic and mantle.(6)
And while all these things were doing, He uttered no voice from His mouth,
as though He were dumb. Then they lifted Him up in the midst between two malefactors,
who had been condemned for robbery, and fixed Him to the cross. What can I
here deplore in so great a crime? or in what words can I lament such great
wickedness? For we are not relating the crucifixion of Gavius,(7) which Marcus
Tullius followed up with all the spirit and strength of his eloquence, pouring
forth as it were the fountains of all his genius, proclaiming that it was an
unworthy deed that a Roman citizen should be crucified in violation of all
laws. And although He was innocent, and undeserving of that punishment, yet
He was put to death, and that, too, by an impious man, who was ignorant of
justice. What shall I say respecting the indignity of this cross, on which
the Son of God was suspended and nailed?(8) Who will be found so eloquent,
and supplied with so great an abundance of deeds and words, what speech flowing
with such copious exuberance,(9) as to lament in a befitting manner that cross,
which the world itself, and all the elements of the world, bewailed?

But that
these things were thus about to happen, was announced both by the utterances
of the prophets
and
by the predictions of the Sibyls. In Isaiah
it is found thus written:(10) "I am not rebellious, nor do I oppose: I
gave my back to the scourge, and my cheeks to the hand:(11) I turned not away
my face from the foulness of spitting." In like manner David, in the thirty-fourth
Psalm:(12) "The abjects(13) were gathered together against me,(14) and
they knew me not:(15) they were dispersed, nor did they feel remorse; they
tempted me, and greatly(16) derided me; and they gnashed upon me with their
teeth." The Sibyl also showed that the same things would happen:--

"He
shall afterwards come into the hands of the unjust and the faithless;and
they shall inflict
on
God blows with impure hands, and withpolluted mouths
they shall send forth poisonous spittle; and He shallthen absolutely(17) give
His holy back to stripes."

Likewise
respecting His silence, which He perseveringly maintained even to His death,
Isaiah thus
spoke again:(18) "He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter; and as a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." And
the above-mentioned Sibyl said:--

"And
being beaten, He shall be silent, lest any one should know what theWord is,
or whence it
came, that
it may speak with mortals; and tieshall
wear the crown of thorns."

But respecting
the food and the drink which they offered to Him before they fastened Him
to the cross,
David
thus speaks in the sixty-eighth Psalm:(19) "And
they gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." The
Sibyl foretold that this also would happen:--

"They
gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst vinegar; thisinhospitable table
they will
show."

And another Sibyl rebukes the land of Judges in these verses:--

"For
you, entertaining hurtful thoughts, did not recognise your Godsporting(1)
with mortal thoughts;
but
crowned Him with a crown ofthorns, and mingled dreadful
gall."

Now, that
it would come to pass that the Jews would lay hands upon their God, and put
Him to death,
these
testimonies of the prophets foretold. In Esdras
it is thus written:(2) "And Ezra said to the people, This passover is
our Saviour and our refuge. Consider and let it come into your heart, that
we have to abase Him in a figure; and after these things we will hope in Him,
lest this place be deserted for ever, saith the Lord God of hosts. If you will
not believe Him, nor hear His announcement, ye shall be a derision among the
nations." From which it appears that the Jews had no other hope, unless
they purified themselves from blood, and put their hopes in that very person
whom they denied.(3) Isaiah also points out their deed, and says:(4) "In
His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation?
for His life shall be taken away from the earth; from the transgressions of
my people He was led away to death. And I will give Him the wicked for His
burial, and the rich for His death, because He did no wickedness, nor spoke
guile with His mouth. Wherefore He shall obtain s many, and shall divide the
spoils of the strong; because He was delivered up to death, and was reckoned
among the transgressors; and He bore the sins of many, and was delivered up
on account of their transgressions." David also, in the ninety-third Psalm:(6) "They
will hunt after the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood;
and the Lord is become my refuge." Also Jeremiah:(7) "Lord, declare
it unto me, and I shall know. Then I saw their devices; I was led as an innocent(8)
lamb to the sacrifice;(9) they meditated a plan against me, saying, Come, let
us send wood into his bread,(10) and let us sweep away his life from the earth,
and his name shall no more be remembered." Now the wood(11) signifies
the cross, and the bread His body; for He Himself is the food and the life
of all who believe in the flesh which He bare, and on the cross upon which
He was suspended.

Respecting
this, however, Moses himself more plainly spoke to this effect, in Deuteronomy:(12) "And Thy life shalL hang(13) before Thine eyes; and
Thou shall fear day and night, and shalt have no assurance of Thy life." And
the same again in Numbers:(14) "God is not in doubt as a suffer threats(15)
as the son of man, nor does He man." Zechariah also thus wrote:(16) "And
they shall look on me, whom they pierced." Also David in the twenty-first
Psalm:(17) "They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones;
they themselves looked and stared upon me; they divided my garments among them;
and upon my vesture they did cast lots." It is evident that the prophet
did not speak these things concerning himself. For he was a king, and never
endured these sufferings; but the Spirit of God, who was about to suffer these
things, after ten hundred and fifty years, spoke by him. For this is the number
of years from the reign of David to the crucifixion of Christ. But Solomon
also, his son, who built Jerusalem, prophesied that this very city would perish
in revenge for the sacred cross:(18) "But if ye turn away from me, saith
the Lord, and will not keep my truth, I will drive Israel from the land which
I have given them; and this house which I have built for them in my name, I
will cast it out from all:(19) and lsrael shall be for perdition(20) and a
reproach to the people; and this house shall be desolate, and every one that
shall pass by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why hath God done these
evils to this land and to this house? And they shall say, Because they forsook
the Lord their God, and persecuted their King most beloved by God, and crucified
Him with great degradation,(21) therefore hath God brought upon them these
evils."

CHAP. XIX.--OF THE DEATH, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS; AND THE PREDICTIONS
OF THESE EVENTS.

What more
can now be said respecting the crime of the Jews, than that they were then
blinded and seized
with incurable
madness, who read these things
daily, and yet neither understood them, nor were able to be on their guard
so as not to do them? Therefore, being lifted up and nailed to the cross, He
cried to the Lord with a loud voice, and of His own accord gave up His spirit.
And at the same hour there was an earthquake; and the veil of the temple, which
separated the two tabernacles, was rent into two parts; and the sun suddenly
withdrew its light, and there was darkness from the sixth(1) even to the ninth
hour. Of which event the prophet Amos testifies:(2) "And it shall come
to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that the sun shall go down at noon, and
the daylight shall be darkened; and I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and your songs into lamentation." Also Jeremiah:(3) "She who brings
forth is affrighted, and vexed in spirit; her sun is gone down while it was
yet mid-day; she hath been ashamed and confounded;(4) and the residue of them
will I give to the sword in the sight of their enemies." And the Sibyl:--

"And
the veil of the temple shall be rent, and at midday there shall bedark vast
night for
three hours,"

When these things were done, even by the heavenly prodigies, they were not
able to understand their crime.

But since
He had foretold that on the third day He should rise again from the dead,
fearing lest, the
body
having been stolen by the disciples, and removed,
all should believe that He had risen, and there should be a much greater disturbance
among the people, they took Him down from the cross, and having shut Him up
in a tomb, they securely surrounded it with a guard of soldiers. But on the
third day, before light, there was an earthquake, and the sepulchre was suddenly
opened; and the guard, who were astonished and stupefied with fear, seeing
nothing, He came forth uninjured and alive from the sepulchre, and went into
Galilee to seek His disciples: but nothing was found in the sepulchre except
the grave-clothes in which they haft enclosed and wrapt His body. Now, that
He would not remain in bell,(5) but rise again on the third day, had been foretold
by the prophets. David says, in the fifteenth Psalm:(6) "Thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to see corruption." Also
in the third Psalm:(7) "I laid me down to sleep, and took my rest, and
rose again, for the Lord sustained me." Hosea also, the first of the twelve
prophets, testified of His resurrection:(8) "This my Son is wise, therefore
He will not remain in the anguish of His sons: and I will redeem Him from the
power(9) of the grave. Where is thy judgment, O death? or where is thy sting?" The
same also in another place:(10) "After two days, He will revive us in
the third day." And therefore the Sibyl said, that after three days' sleep
he would put an end to death:--

"And
after sleeping three days, He shall put an end to the fate of death;and then,
releasing
Himself
from the dead, He shall come to light,first showing
to the called ones the beginning of the resurrection."

For He gained life for us by overcoming death. No hope, therefore, of gaining
immortality is given to than, unless he shall believe on Him, and shall take
up that cross to be borne and endured.

CHAP. XX.--OF THE DEPARTURE OF JESUS INTO GALILEE AFTER HIS RESURRECTION;
AND OF THE TWO TESTAMENTS, THE OLD AND THE NEW.

Therefore He went into Galilee, for He was unwilling to show Himself to the
Jews, lest He should lead them to repentance, and restore them from their impiety
to a sound mind.(11) And there He opened to His disciples again assembled the
writings of Holy Scripture, that is, the secrets of the prophets; which before
His suffering could by no means be understood, for they told of Him and of
His passion. Therefore Moses, and the prophets also themselves, call the law
which was given to the Jews a testament: for unless the testator shall have
died, a testament cannot be confirmed; nor can that which is written in it
be known, because it is closed and sealed. And thus, unless Christ had undergone
death the testament could not have been opened; that is, the mystery of God
could not have been unveiled(12) and understood.

But all
Scripture is divided into two Testaments. That which preceded the advent
and passion of Christ--that
is, the law and the prophets--is called
the Old; but those things which were written after His resurrection are named
the New Testament. The Jews make use of the Old, we of the New: but yet they
are not discordant, for the New is the fulfilling of the Old, and in both there
is the same testator, even Christ, who, having suffered death for us, made
us heirs of His everlasting kingdom, the people of the Jews being deprived
and disinherited.(1) As the prophet Jeremiah testifies when he speaks such
things:(2) "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a
new testament(3) to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according
to the testament which I made to their fathers, in the day that I took them
by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they continued not
in my testament, and I disregarded(4) them, saith the Lord." Also in another
place he says in like manner:(5) "I have forsaken my house, I have given
up mine heritage into the hand of its enemies. Mine heritage is become unto
me as a lion in the forest; it hath cried out against me, therefore have I
hated it." Since the inheritance is His heavenly kingdom, it is evident
that He does not say that He hates the inheritance itself, but the heirs, who
have been ungrateful towards Him, and impious. Mine heritage, he says, is become
unto me as a lion; that is, I am become a prey and a devouring to my heirs,
who have slain me as the flock. It hath cried out against me; that is, they
have pronounced against me the sentence of death and the cross. For that which
He said above, that He would make(6) a new testament to the house of Judah,
shows that the old testament which was given by Moses was not perfect;(7) but
that that which was to be given by Christ would be complete. But it is plain
that the house of Judah does not signify the Jews, whom He casts off, but us,
who have been called by Him out of the Gentiles, and have by adoption succeeded
to their place, and are called sons(8) of the Jews, which the Sibyl declares
when she says:--

"The
divine race of the blessed, heavenly Jews."

But what
that race was about to be, Isaiah teaches, in whose book the Most High Father
addresses
His Son:(9) "I the Lord God have called Thee in
righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee:(10) and I have
given Thee for covenant of my race,(11) for a light of the Gentiles to open
the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them
that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." When, therefore, we who
were in time past as it were blind, and as it were shut up in the prison of
folly, were sitting in darkness, ignorant of God and of the truth, we have
been enlightened by Him, who adopted us by His testament; and having freed
us from cruel chains, and brought us out to the light of wisdom, He admitted
us to the inheritance of His heavenly kingdom.

CHAP. XXI.--OF THE ASCENSION OF JESUS, AND THE FORETELLING OF IT; AND OF THE
PREACHING AND ACTIONS OF THE DISCIPLES.

But when
He had made arrangements with His disciples for the preaching of the Gospel
and His name, a cloud
suddenly surrounded Him, and carried Him up
into heaven, on the fortieth day after His passion, as Daniel bad shown that
it would be, saying:(12) "And, behold, one like the Son of man came with
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days." But the disciples,
being dispersed through the provinces, everywhere laid the foundations of the
Church, themselves also in the name of their divine(13) Master doing many and
almost incredible miracles; for at His departure He had endowed them with power
and strength, by which the system(14) of their new announcement might be founded
and confirmed. But He also opened to them all things which were about to happen,
which Peter and Paul preached at Rome; and this preaching being written for
the sake of remembrance,(15) became permanent, in which they both declared
other wonderful things, and also said that it was about to come to pass, that
after a short time God would send against them a king who would subdue(16)
the Jews, and level their cities to the ground, and besiege the people themselves,
worn out with hunger and thirst. Then it should come to pass that they should
feed on the bodies of their own children, and consume one another. Lastly,
that they should be taken captive, and come into the hands of their enemies,
and should see their wives most cruelly harassed before their eyes, their virgins
ravished and polluted, their sons torn in pieces, their little ones dashed
to the ground; and lastly, everything laid waste with fire and sword, the captives
banished for ever from their own lands, because they had exulted over the well-beloved
and most approved Son of God. And so, after their decease, when Nero had put
them to death, Vespasian destroyed the name and nation of the Jews, and did
all things which they had foretold as about to come to pass.

CHAP. XXII.--ARGUMENTS OF UNBELIEVERS AGAINST THE INCARNATION OF JESUS.

I have now confirmed, as I imagine, the things which are thought false and
incredible by those who are not instructed in the true knowledge of heavenly
learning. But, however, that we may refute those also who are too wise, not
without injury to themselves and who detract from the credit due to divine
things, let us disprove their error, that they may at length perceive that
the fact ought to have been as we show that it actually was. And although with
good judges either testimonies are of sufficient weight without arguments,
or arguments without testimonies, we, however, are not content with the one
or the other, since we are supplied with both, that we may not leave room for
any one of depraved ingenuity either to misunderstand or to dispute on the
opposite side. They say that it was impossible for anything to be withdrawn(1)
from an immortal nature. They say, in short, that it was unworthy of God to
be willing to become man, and to burthen Himself with the infirmity of flesh;
to become subject of His own accord to sufferings, to pain, and death:as though
it had not been easy for Him to show Himself to men without(2) the weakness
incident to a body, and to teach them righteousness (if He so wished) with
greater authority, as of one who acknowledged(3) Himself to be God. For in
that case all would have obeyed the heavenly precepts, if the influence and
power of God enjoining them had been united with them. Why, then (they say),
did He not come as God to teach men? Why did He render Himself so humble and
weak, that it was possible for Him both to be despised by men and to be visited
with punishment? why did He suffer violence from those who are weak and mortal?
why did He not repel by strength, or avoid by His divine knowledge,(4) the
hands of men? why did He not at least in His very death reveal His majesty?
but He was led as one without strength to trial, was condemned as one who was
guilty, was put to death as one who was mortal. I will carefully refute these
things, nor will I permit any one to be in error. For these things were done
by a great and wonderful plan; and he who shall understand this, will not only
cease to wonder that God was tortured by men, but also will easily see that
it could not have been believed that he was God if those very things which
he censures had not been done.

CHAP. XXIII.--OF GIVING PRECEPTS, AND ACTING.

If any one gives to men precepts for living, and moulds the characters of
others, I ask whether he is bound himself to practise the things which he enjoins,
or is not bound. If he shall not do so, his precepts are annulled. For if the
things which are enjoined are good, if they place the life of men in the best
condition, the instructor ought not to separate himself from the number and
assemblage of men among whom he acts; and he ought himself to live in the same
manner in which he teaches that men ought to live, lest, by living in another
way, he himself should disparage(5) his own precepts, and make his instruction
of less value, if in reality he should relax the obligations of that which
he endeavours to establish by his words. For every one, when he hears another
giving precepts, is unwilling that the necessity of obeying should be imposed
upon him, as though the right of liberty were taken from him. Therefore he
answers his teacher in this manner: I am not able to do the things which you
command, for they are impossible. For yon forbid me to be angry, you forbid
me to covet, you forbid me to be excited by desire, you forbid me to fear pain
or death; but this is so contrary to nature, that all animals are subject to
these affections. Or if you are so entirely of opinion that it is possible
to resist nature, do you yourself practise the things which you enjoin, that
I may know that they are possible? But since you yourself do not practise them,
what arrogance is it, to wish to impose upon a free man laws which you yourself
do not obey! You who teach, first learn; and before you correct the character
of others, correct your own. Who could deny the justice of this answer? Nay!
a teacher of this kind will fall into contempt, and will in his turn be mocked,
because he also will appear to mock others.

What, therefore, will that instructor do, if these things shall be objected
to him? how will he deprive the self-willed(6) of an excuse, unless he teach
them by deeds before their eyes(7) that he teaches things which are possible?
Whence it comes to pass, that no one obeys the precepts of the philosophers.(8)
For men prefer examples rather than words, because it is easy to speak, but
difficult to accomplish.(9) Would to heaven that there were as many who acted
well as there are who speak well! But they who give precepts, without carrying
them out into action, are distrusted;(1) and if they shall be men, will be
despised as inconsistent:(2) if it shall be God, He will be met with the excuse
of the frailty of man's nature. It remains that words should be confirmed by
deeds, which the philosophers are unable to do. Therefore, since the instructors
themselves are overcome by the affections which they say that it is our duty
to overcome, they are able to train no one to virtue, which they falsely proclaim;(3)
and for this cause they imagine that no perfect wise man has as vet existed,
that is, in whom the greatest virtue and perfect justice were in harmony with
the greatest learning and knowledge. And this indeed was true. For no one since
the creation of the world has been such, except Christ, who both delivered
wisdom by His word, and confirmed His teaching by presenting virtue to the
eyes of men.(4)

CHAP. XXIV.--THE OVERTHROWING OF THE ARGUMENTS ABOVE URGED BY WAY OF OBJECTION.

Come,
let us now consider whether a teacher sent from heaven can fail to be perfect.
I do not as yet
speak
of Him whom they deny to have come from God.
Let us suppose that some one were to be sent from heaven to instruct the life
of men in the first principles of virtue, and to form them to righteousness.
No one can doubt but that this teacher, who is sent from heaven, would be as
perfect in the knowledge of all things as in virtue, lest there should be no
difference between a heavenly and an earthly teacher. For in the case of a
man his instruction can by no means be from within and of himself.(5) For the
mind, shut in by earthly organs, and hindered by a corrupt(6) body, of itself
can neither comprehend nor receive the truth, unless it is taught from another
source.(7) And if it had this power in the greatest degree, yet it would be
unable to attain to the highest virtue, and to resist all vices, the materials
of which are contained in our bodily(8) organs. Hence it comes to pass, that
an earthly teacher cannot be perfect. But a teacher from heaven, to whom His
divine nature gives knowledge, and His immortality gives virtue, must of necessity
in His teaching also, as in other things, be perfect and complete. But this
cannot by any means happen, unless He should take to Himself a mortal body.
And the reason why it cannot happen is manifest. For if He should come to men
as God, not to mention that mortal eyes cannot look upon and endure the glory
of His majesty in His own person, assuredly God will not be able to teach virtue;
for, inasmuch as He is without a body, He will not practise the things which
He will teach, and through this His teaching will not be perfect. Otherwise,
if it is the greatest virtue patiently to endure pain for the sake of righteousness
and duty, if it is virtue not to fear death itself when threatened, and when
inflicted to undergo it with fortitude; it follows that the perfect teacher
ought both to teach these things by precept, and to confirm them by practice.
For he who gives precepts for the life, ought to remove every method(9) of
excuse, that he may impose upon men the necessity of obedience, not by any
constraint, but by a sense of shame, and yet may leave them liberty, that a
reward may be appointed for those who obey, because it was in their power not
to obey if they so wished; and a punishment for those who do not obey, because
it was in their power to obey if they so wished. How then can excuse be removed,
unless the teacher should practise what he teaches, and as it were go before(10)
and hold out his hand to one who is about to follow? But how can one practise
what he teaches, unless he is like him whom he teaches? For if he be subject
to no passion, a man may thus answer him who is the teacher: It is my wish
not to sin, but I am overpowered; for I am clothed with frail and weak flesh:
it is this which covets, which is angry, which fears pain and death. And thus
I am led on against my will;(11) and I sin, not because it is my wish, but
because I am compelled. I myself perceive that I sin; but the necessity imposed
by my frailty, which I am unable to resist, impels me. What will that teacher
of righteousness say in reply to these things? How will he refute and convict
a man who shall allege the frailty of the flesh as an excuse for his faults,
unless he himself also shall be clothed with flesh, so that he may show that
even the flesh is capable of virtue? For obstinacy cannot be refuted except
by example. For the things which you teach cannot have any weight unless you
shall be the first to practise them; because the nature of men is inclined
to faults, and wishes to sin not only with indulgence, but also with a reasonable
plea.(12) It is befitting that a master and teacher of virtue should most closely
resemble man, that by overpowering sin he may teach man that sin may be overpowered
by him. But if he is immortal, he can by no means propose an example to man.
For there will stand forth some one persevering in his opinion, and will say:
You indeed do not sin, because you are free from this body; you do not covet,
because nothing is needed by an immortal; but I have need of many things for
the support of this life. You do not fear death, because it can have no power
against you. You despise pain, because you can suffer no violence. But I, a
mortal, fear both, because they bring upon me the severest tortures, which
the weakness of the flesh cannot endure. A teacher of virtue therefore ought
to have taken away this excuse from men, that no one may ascribe it to necessity
that he sins, rather than to his own fault. Therefore, that a teacher may be
perfect, no objection ought to be brought forward by him who is to be taught,
so that if he should happen to say, You enjoin impossibilities; the teacher
may answer, See, I myself do them. But I am clothed with flesh, and it is the
property of flesh to sin.(1) I too bear the same flesh, and yet sin does not
bear rule in me. It is difficult for me to despise riches, because otherwise
I am unable to live in this body. See, I too have a body, and yet I contend
against every desire. I am not able to bear pain or death for righteousness,
because I am frail. See, pain and death have power over me also; and I overcome
those very things which you fear, that I may make you victorious over pain
and death. I go before you through those things which you allege that it is
impossible to endure: if you are not able to follow me giving directions, follow
me going before you. In this way all excuse is taken away, and you must confess
that man is unjust through his own fault, since he does not follow a teacher
of virtue, who is at the same time a guide. You see, therefore, how much more
perfect is a teacher who is mortal, because he is able to be a guide to one
who is mortal, than one who is immortal, for he is unable to teach patient
endurance who is not subject to passions. Nor, however, does this extend so
far that I prefer man to God; but to show that man cannot be a perfect teacher
unless he is also God, that he may by his heavenly authority impose upon men
the necessity of obedience; nor God, unless he is clothed with a mortal body,
that by carrying out his precepts to their completion(2) in actions, he may
bind others by the necessity of obedience. It plainly therefore appears, that
he who is a guide of life and teacher of righteousness must have a body, and
that his teaching cannot otherwise be full and perfect, unless it has a root
and foundation, and remains firm and fixed among men; and that he himself must
undergo weakness of flesh and body, and display in himself(3) the virtue of
which he is a teacher, that he may teach it at the same time both by words
and deeds. Also, he must be subject to death and all sufferings, since the
duties of virtue are occupied with the enduring of suffering, and the undergoing
death; all which, as I have said, a perfect teacher ought to endure, that he
may teach the possibility of their being endured.

CHAP. XXV.--OF THE ADVENT OF JESUS IN THE FLESH AND SPIRIT, THAT HE MIGHT
BE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

Let men therefore learn and understand why the Most High God, when He sent
His ambassador and messenger to instruct mortals with the precepts of His righteousness,
willed that He should be clothed with mortal flesh, and be afflicted with torture,
and be sentenced to death. For since there was no righteousness on earth, He
sent a teacher, as it were a living law, to found a new name and temple,(4)
that by His words and example He might spread throughout the earth a true and
holy worship. But, however, that it might be certain that He was sent by God,
it was befitting that He should not be born as man is born, composed of a mortal
on both sides;(5) but that it might appear that He was heavenly even in the
form of man, He was born without the office of a father. For He had a spiritual
Father, God; and as God was the Father of His spirit without a mother, so a
virgin was the mother of His body without a father. He was therefore both God
and man, being placed in the middle between God and man. From which the Greeks
call Him Mesites,(6) that He might be able to lead man to God--that is, to
immortality: for if He had been God only (as we have before said), He would
not have been able to afford to man examples of goodness; if He had been man
only, He would not have been able to compel men to righteousness, unless there
had been added an authority and virtue greater than that of man.

For, since man is composed of flesh and spirit, and the spirit must earn(1)
immortality by works of righteousness, the flesh, since it is earthly, and
therefore mortal, draws with itself the spirit linked to it, and leads it from
immortality to death. Therefore the spirit, apart from the flesh, could by
no means be a guide to immortality for man, since the flesh hinders the spirit
from following God. For it is frail, and liable to sin; but sin is the food
and nourishment(2) of death. For this cause, therefore, a mediator came--that
is, God in the flesh--that the flesh might be able to follow Him, and that
He might rescue man from death, which has dominion over the flesh. Therefore
He clothed Himself with flesh, that the desires of the flesh being subdued,
He might teach that to sin was not the result of necessity, but of man's purpose
and will. For we have one great and principal struggle to maintain with the
flesh, the boundless desire; of which press upon the soul, nor allow it to
retain dominion, but make it the slave of pleasures and sweet allurements,
and visit it with everlasting death. And that we might be able to overcome
these, God has opened and displayed to us the way of overcoming the flesh.
And this perfect and absolutely complete(3) virtue bestows on those who conquer,
the crown and reward of immortality.

CHAP. XXVI.--OF THE CROSS, AND OTHER TORTURES OF JESUS, AND OF THE FIGURE
OF THE LAMB UNDER THE LAW.

I have spoken of humiliation, and frailty, and suffering--why God thought
fit to undergo them. Now an account must be taken of the cross itself, and
its meaning must be related. What the Most High Father arranged from the beginning,
and how He ordained all things which were accomplished, not only the foretelling
by the prophets, which preceded and was proved true(4) in Christ, but also
the manner of His suffering itself teaches. For whatever sufferings He underwent
were not without meaning;(5) but they had a figurative meaning(6) and great
significance, as had also those divine works which He performed, the strength
and power of which had some weight indeed for the present, but also declared
something for the future. Heavenly influence opened the eyes of the blind,
and gave light to those who did not see; and by this deed He signified that
it would come to pass that, turning to the nations which were ignorant of God,
He might enlighten the breasts of the foolish with the light of wisdom, and
open the eyes of their understanding to the contemplation of the truth. For
they are truly blind who, not seeing heavenly things, and surrounded with the
darkness of ignorance, worship earthly and frail things. He opened the ears
of the deaf. It is plain that this divine power did not limit its exercise
to this point;(7) but He declared that it would shortly come to pass, that
they who were destitute of the truth would both hear and understand the divine
words of God. For you may truly call those deaf who do not hear the things
which are heavenly and true, and worthy of being performed. He loosed the tongues
of the dumb, so that they spake plainly.(8) A power worthy of admiration,(9)
even when it was in operation: but there was contained in this display(10)
of power another meaning, which showed that it would shortly come to pass that
those who were lately ignorant of heavenly things, having received the instruction
of wisdom, might speak respecting God and the truth. For he who is ignorant
of the divine nature, he truly is speechless and dumb, although he is the most
eloquent of all men. For when the tongue has begun to speak truth--that is,
to set forth the excellency and majesty of the one God--then only does it discharge
the office of its nature; but as long as it speaks false things it is not rightly
employed:(11) and therefore he must necessarily be speechless who cannot utter
divine things. He also renewed the feet of the lame to the office of walking,--a
strength of divine work worthy of praise; but the figure implied this, that
the errors of a worldly and wandering life being restrained, the path of truth
was opened by which men might walk to attain the favour of God. For He is truly
to be considered lame, who, being enwrapped in the gloom and darkness of folly,
and ignorant in what direction to go, with feet liable to stumble and fall,
walks in the way of death.

Likewise He cleansed the stains and blemishes of defiled bodies,--no slight
exercise of immortal power; but this strength prefigured that by the instruction
of righteousness His doctrine was about to purify those defiled by the stains
of sins and the blemishes of vices. For they ought truly to be accounted as
leprous and unclean,(12) whom either boundless lusts compel to crimes, or insatiable
pleasures to disgraceful deeds, and affect with an everlasting stain those
who are branded with the marks of dishonourable actions. He raised the bodies
of the dead as they lay prostrate; and calling them aloud by their names, He
brought them back from death. What is more suitable to God, what more worthy
of the wonder of all ages, than to have recalled(1) the life which has run
its course, to have added times to the completed times of men, to have revealed
the secrets of death? But this unspeakable power was the image of a greater
energy, which showed that His teaching was about to have such might, that the
nations throughout the world, which were estranged from God and subject to
death, being animated by the knowledge of the true light, might arrive at the
rewards of immortality. For you may rightly deem those to be dead, who, not
knowing God the giver of life, and depressing their souls from heaven to earth,
run into the snares of eternal death. The actions, therefore, which He then
performed for the present, were representations of future things; the things
which He displayed in injured and diseased bodies were figures(2) of spiritual
things, that at present He might display to us the works of an energy which
was not of earth, and for the future might show the power of His heavenly majesty.(3)

Therefore, as His works had a signification also of greater power, so also
His passion did not go before us as simple, or superfluous, or by chance. But
as those things which He did signified the great efficacy and power of His
teaching, so those things which He suffered announced that wisdom would be
held in hatred. For the vinegar which they gave Him to drink, and the gall
which they gave Him to eat, held forth hardships and severities(4) in this
life to the followers of truth. And although His passion, which was harsh and
severe in itself, gave to us a sample of the future torments which virtue itself
proposes to those who linger in this world, yet drink and food of this kind,
coming into the mouth of our teacher, afforded us an example of pressures,
and labours, and miseries. All which things must be undergone and suffered
by those who follow the truth; since the truth is bitter, and detested by all
who, being destitute of virtue, give up their life to deadly pleasures. For
the placing of a crown of thorns upon His head, declared that it would come
to pass that He would gather to Himself a holy people from those who were guilty.
For people standing around in a circle are called a corona.(5) But we, who
before that we knew God were unjust, were thorns--that is, evil and guilty,
not knowing what was good; and estranged from the conception and the works
of righteousness, polluted all things with wickedness and lust. Being taken,
therefore, from briars and thorns, we surround the sacred head of God; for,
being called by Himself, and spread around Him, we stand beside God, who is
our Master and Teacher, and crown Him King of the world, and Lord of all the
living.

But with reference to the cross, it has great force and meaning, which I will
now endeavour to show. For God (as I have before explained), when He had determined
to set man free, sent as His ambassador to the earth a teacher of virtue, who
might both by salutary precepts train men to innocence, and by works and deeds
before their eyes(6) might open the way of righteousness, by walking in which,
and following his teacher, man might attain to eternal life. He therefore assumed
a body, and was clothed in a garment of flesh, that He might hold out to man,
for whose instruction He had come, examples of virtue and incitements to its
practice. But when He had afforded an example of righteousness in all the duties
of life, in order that He might teach man also the patient endurance of pain
and contempt of death, by which virtue is rendered perfect and complete, He
came into the hands of an impious nation, when, by the knowledge of the future
which He had, He might have avoided them, and by the same power by which He
did wonderful works He might have repelled them. Therefore He endured tortures,
and stripes, and thorns. At last He did not refuse even to undergo death, that
under His guidance man might triumph over death, subdued and bound in chains
with all its terrors. But the reason why the Most High Father chose that kind
of death in preference to others, with which He should permit Him to be visited,
is this. For some one may perchance say: Why, if He was God, and chose to die,
did He not at least suffer by some honourable kind of death? why was it by
the cross especially? why by an infamous kind of punishment, which may appear
unworthy even of a man if he is free,(7) although guilty? First of all, because
He, who had come in humility that He might bring assistance to the humble and
men of low degree, and might hold out to all the hope of safety, was to suffer
by that kind of punishment by which the humble and low usually suffer, that
there might be no one at all who might not be able to imitate Him. In the next
place, it was in order that His body might be kept unmutilated,(1) since He
must rise again from the dead on the third day.

Nor ought
any one to be ignorant of this, that He Himself, speaking before of His passion,
also made
it known
that He had the power, when He willed it,
of laying down His life and of taking it again. Therefore, because He had laid
down His life while fastened to the cross, His executioners did not think it
necessary to break His bones (as was their prevailing custom), but they only
pierced His side. Thus His unbroken body was taken down from the cross, and
carefully enclosed in a tomb. Now all these things were done lest His body,
being injured and broken, should be rendered unsuitable(2) for rising again.
That also was a principal cause why God chose the cross, because it was necessary
that He should be lifted up on it, and the passion of God become known to all
nations. For since he who is suspended upon a cross is both conspicuous to
all and higher than others, the cross was especially chosen, which might signify
that He would be so conspicuous, and so raised on high, that all nations from
the whole world should meet together at once to know and worship Him. Lastly,
no nation is so uncivilized, no region so remote, to which either His passion
or the height of His majesty would be unknown. Therefore in His suffering He
stretched forth His hands and measured out the world, that even then He might
show that a great multitude, collected together out of all languages and tribes,
from the rising of the sun even to his setting, was about to come under His
wings, and to receive on their foreheads that great and lofty sign.(3) And
the Jews even now exhibit a figure of this transaction when they mark their
thresholds with the blood of a lamb. For when God was about to smite the Egyptians,
to secure the Hebrews from that infliction He had enjoined them to slay a white(4)
lamb without spot, and to place on their thresholds a mark from its blood.
And thus, when the first-born of the Egyptians had perished in one night, the
Hebrews alone were saved by the sign of the blood: not that the blood of a
sheep had such efficacy in itself as to be the safety of men, hut it was an
image of things to come. For Christ was the white lamb without spot; that is,
He was innocent, and just, and holy, who, being slain by the same Jews, is
the salvation of all who have written on their foreheads the sign of blood--that
is, of the cross, on which He shed His blood. For the forehead is the top of
the threshold in man, and the wood sprinkled with blood is the emblem(5) of
the cross. Lastly, the slaying of the lamb by those very persons who perform
it is called the paschal feast, from the word "paschein,"(6) because
it is a figure of the passion, which God, foreknowing the future, delivered
by Moses to be celebrated by His people. But at that time the figure was efficacious
at the present for averting the danger, that it may appear what great efficacy
the truth itself is about to have for the protection of God's people in the
extreme necessity of the whole world. But in what manner or in what region
all will be safe who have marked on the highest part of their body this sign
of the true and divine blood,(7) I will show in the last book.

CHAP. XXVII.--OF THE WONDERS EFFECTED BY THE POWER OF THE CROSS, AND OF DEMONS.

At present it is sufficient to show what great efficacy the power of this
sign has. How great a terror this sign is to the demons, he will know who shall
see how, when adjured by Christ, they flee from the bodies which they have
besieged. For as He Himself, when He was living among men, limit to flight
all the demons by His word, and restored to their former senses the minds of
men which had been excited and maddened by their dreadful attacks; so now His
followers, in the name of their Master, and by the sign of His passion, banish
the same polluted spirits from men. And it is not difficult to prove this.
For when they sacrifice to their gods, if any one bearing a marked forehead
stands by, the sacrifices are by no means favourable.(8)

"Nor can the diviner, when consulted, give answers."(9)

And this has often been the cause of punishment to wicked kings. For when
some of their attendants who were of our religion(10) were standing by their
masters as they sacrificed, having the sign placed on their foreheads, they
caused the gods of their masters to flee, that they might not be able to observe(11)
future events in the entrails of the victims. And when the soothsayers understood
this, at the instigation of the same demons to whom they had sacrificed,(1)
complaining that profane men were present at the sacrifices, they drove their
princes to madness, so that they attacked the temple of the god, and contaminated
themselves by true sacrilege, which was expiated by the severest punishments
on the part of their persecutors. Nor, however, are blind men able to understand
even from this, either that this is the true religion, which contains such
great power for overcoming, or that that is false, which is not able to hold
its ground or to come to an engagement.

But they say that the gods do this, not through fear, but through hatred;
as though it were possible for any one to hate another, unless it be him who
injures, or has the power of injuring. Yea, truly, it would be consistent with
their majesty to visit those whom they hated with immediate punishment,(2)
rather than to flee from them. But since they can neither approach those in
whom they shall see the heavenly mark, nor injure those whom the immortal sign(3)
as an impregnable wall protects, they harass them by men, and persecute them
by the hands of others: and if they acknowledge the existence of these demons,
we have overcome; for this must necessarily be the true religion, which both
understands the nature of demons, and understands their subtlety, and compels
them, vanquished and subdued, to yield to itself. If they deny it, they will
be refuted by the testimonies of poets and philosophers. But if they do not
deny the existence and malignity of demons, what remains except that they affirm
that there is a difference between gods and demons?(4) Let them therefore explain
to us the difference between the two kinds, that we may know what is to be
worshipped and what to be held in execration; whether they have any mutual
agreement, or are really opposed to one, another. If they are united by some
necessity, how shall we distinguish them? or how shall we unite the honour
and worship of each kind? If, on the other hand, they are enemies, how is it
that the demons do not fear the gods, or that the gods cannot put to flight
the demons? Behold, some one excited by the impulse of the demon is out of
his senses, raves, is mad: let us lead him into the temple of the excellent
and mighty Jupiter; or since Jupiter knows not how to cure men, into the lane
of AEsculapius or Apollo. Let the priest of either, in the name of his god,
command the wicked spirit to come out of the man: that can in no way come to
pass. What, then, is the power of the gods, if the demons are not subject to
their control? But, in truth, the same demons, when adjured by the name of
the true God, immediately flee. What reason is there why they should fear Christ,
but not fear Jupiter, unless that they whom the multitude esteem to be gods
are also demons? Lastly, if there should be placed in the midst one who is
evidently suffering from an attack of a demon, and the priest of the Delphian
Apollo, they will in the same manner dread the name of God; and Apollo will
as quickly depart from his priest as the spirit of the demon from the man;
and his god being adjured and put to flight, the priest will be for ever silent.(5)
Therefore the demons, whom they acknowledge to be objects of execration, are
the same as the gods to whom they offer supplications.

If they imagine that we are unworthy of belief, let them believe Homer, who
associated the supreme Jupiter(6) with the demons; and also other poets and
philosophers, who speak of the same beings at one time as demons, and at another
time as gods,--of which names one is true, and the other false. For those most
wicked spirits, when they are adjured, then confess that they are demons; when
they are worshipped, then falsely say that they are gods; in order that they
may lead men into errors,(7) and call them away from the knowledge of the true
God, by which alone eternal death can be escaped. They are the same who, for
the sake of overthrowing man, have founded various systems of worship for themselves
through different regions,(8)--under false and assumed names, however, that
they might deceive. For because they were unable by themselves to aspire to
divinity, they took to themselves the names of powerful kings, under whose
titles they might claim for themselves divine honours; which error may be dispelled,
and brought to the light of truth. For if any one desires to inquire further
into the matter, let him assemble those who are skilled in calling forth spirits
from the dead. Let them call forth(9) Jupiter, Neptune, Vulcan, Mercury, Apollo,
and Saturnus the father of all. All will answer from the lower regions; and
being questioned they will speak, and confess respecting themselves and God.
After these things let them call up Christ; He will not be present, He will
not appear, for He was not more than two days in the lower regions. What proof
can be brought forward more certain than this? I have no doubt that Trismegistus
arrived at the truth by some proof of this kind, who spoke many things(1) respecting
God the Son which are contained in the divine secrets.

CHAP. XXVIII.--OF HOPE AND TRUE RELIGION, AND OF SUPERSTITION.

And since
these things are so, as we have shown, it is plain that no other hope of
life is set before
man,
except that, laying aside vanities and wretched
error, he should know God,(2) and serve God; except he renounce this temporary
life, and train himself by the principles of righteousness for the cultivation
of true religion. For we are created on this condition, that we pay just and
due obedience to God who created us, that we should know and follow Him alone.
We are bound and tied to God by this chain of piety;(3) from which religion
itself received its name, not, as Cicero explained it, from carefully gathering,(4)
for in his second book respecting the nature of the gods he thus speaks: "For
not only philosophers, but our ancestors also, separated superstition from
religion. For they who spent whole days in prayers and sacrifices, that their
children might survive(5) them, were called superstitious. But they who handled
again, and as it were carefully gathered all things which related to the worship
of the gods, were called religious from carefully gathering,(6) as some were
called elegant from choosing out, and diligent from carefully selecting and
intelligent from understanding. For in all these words there is the same meaning
of gathering which there is in the word religious: thus it has come to pass,
that in the names superstitious and religious, the one relates to a fault,
the other belongs to praise." How senseless this interpretation is, we
may know from the matter itself. For if both religion and superstition are
engaged in the worship of the same gods, there is little or rather no difference
between them. For what cause will he allege why he should think that to pray
once for the health of sons is the part of a religious man, but to do the same
ten times is the part of a superstitious man? For if it is an excellent thing
to pray once, how much more so to do it more frequently! If it is well to do
it at the first hour, then it is well to do it throughout the day. If one victim
renders the deity propitious, it is plain that many victims must render him
more propitious, because multiplied services oblige(7) rather than offend.
For those servants do not appear to us hateful who are assiduous and constant
in their attendance, but more beloved. Why, therefore, should he be in fault,
and receive a name which implies censure,(8) who either loves his children
more, or sufficiently honours the gods; and he, on the contrary, be praised,
who loves them less? And this argument has weight also from the contrary. For
if it is wrong(9) to pray and sacrifice during whole days, therefore it is
wrong to do so once. If it is faulty frequently to wish for the preservation
of our children, therefore he also is superstitious who conceives that wish
even rarely. Or why should the name of a fault be derived from that, than which
nothing can be wished more honourable, nothing more just? For as to his saying,
that they who diligently take in hand again the things relating to the worship
of the gods are called religious from their carefully gathering; how is it,
then, that they who do this often in a day lose the name of religious men,
when it is plain from their very assiduity that they more diligently gather
those things by which the gods are worshipped?

What, then, is it? Truly religion is the cultivation of the truth, but superstition
of that which is false. And it makes the entire difference what you worship,
not how you worship, or what prayer you offer.(10) But because the worshippers
of the gods imagine themselves to be religious, though they are superstitious,
they are neither able to distinguish religion from superstition, nor to express
the meaning of the names. We have said that the name of religion is derived
from the bond of piety,(11) because God has tied man to Himself, and bound
him by piety;(12) for we must serve Him as a master, and be obedient to Him
as a father. And therefore Lucretius(1) better explained this name, who says
that He loosens the knots of superstitions.(2) But they are called superstitious,
not who wish their children to survive them, for we all wish this; but either
those who reverence the surviving memory of the dead, or those who, surviving
their parents, reverenced their images at their houses as household gods. For
those who assumed to themselves new rites, that they might honour the dead
as gods, whom they supposed to be taken from men and received into heaven,
they called superstitious. But those who worshipped the public and ancient
gods(3) they named religious. From which Virgil says:(4)--

"Superstition
vain, and ignorant of ancient gods."

But since we find that the ancient gods also were consecrated in the same
manner after their death, therefore they are superstitious who worship many
and false gods. We, on the other hand, are religious, who make our supplications
to the one true God.

CHAP. XXIX.--OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, AND OF THE UNION OF JESUS WITH THE
FATHER.

Some one may perhaps ask how, when we say that we worship one God only, we
nevertheless assert that there are two, God the Father and God the Son: which
assertion has driven many into the greatest error. For when the things which
we say seem to them probable, they consider that we fail in this one point
alone, that we confess that there is another God, and that He is mortal. We
have already spoken of His mortality: now let us teach concerning His unity.
When we speak of God the Father and God the Son, we do not speak of them as
different, nor do we separate each: because the Father cannot exist without
the Son, nor can the Son be separated from the Father, since the name of Father(5)
cannot be given without the Son, nor can the Son be begotten without the Father.
Since, therefore, the Father makes the Son, and the Son the Father, they both
have one mind, one spirit, one substance; but the former(6) is as it were an
overflowing fountain, the latter(7) as a stream flowing forth from it: the
former as the sun, the latter as it were a ray(8) extended from the sun. And
since He is both faithful to the Most High Father, and beloved by Him, He is
not separated from Him; just as the stream is not separated from the fountain
nor the ray from the sun: for the water of the fountain is in the stream, and
the light of the sun is in the ray: just as the voice cannot be separated from
the mouth, nor the strength or hand from the body. When, therefore, He is also
spoken of by the prophets as the hand, and strength, and word of God, there
is plainly no separation; for the tongue, which is the minister of speech,
and the hand, in which the strength is situated, are inseparable portions of
the body.

We may
use an example more closely connected with us. When any one has a son whom
he especially
loves, who is
still in the house, and in the power(9) of
his father, although he concede to him the name and power of a master, yet
by the civil law the house is one, and one person is called master. So this
world(10) is the one house of God; and the Son and the Father, who unanimously
inhabit the world, are one God, for the one is as two, and the two are as one.
Nor is that wonderful, since the Son is in the Father, for the Father loves
the Son, and the Father is in the Son; for He faithfully obeys the will of
the Father, nor does He ever do nor has done anything except what the Father
either willed or commanded. Lastly, that the Father and the Son are but one
God, Isaiah showed in that passage which we have brought forward before,(11)
when he said:(12) "They shall fall down unto Thee, and make supplication
unto Thee, since God is in Thee, and there is no other God besides Thee." And
he also speaks to the same purport in another place:(13) "Thus saith God
the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the everlasting God; I am the first,
and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." When he had set forth
two persons, one of God the King, that is, Christ, and the other of God the
Father, who after His passion raised Him from the dead, as we have said(14)
that the prophet Hosea showed,(15) who said, "I will redeem Him from the
power of the grave:" nevertheless, with reference to each person, he introduced
the words, "and beside me there is no God," when he might have said "beside
us;" but it was not right that a separation of so close a relationship
should be made by the use of the plural number. For there is one God alone,
free, most high, without any origin; for He Himself is the origin of all things,
and in Him at once both the Son and all things are contained. Wherefore, since
the mind and will of the one is in the other, or rather, since there is one
in both, both are justly called one God; for whatever is in the Father(1) flows
on to the Son, and whatever is in the Son descends from the Father. Therefore
that highest and matchless God cannot be worshipped except through the Son.
He who thinks that he worships the Father only, as he does not worship the
Son, so he does not worship even the Father. But he who receives the Son, and
bears His name, he truly together with the Son worships the Father also, since
the Son is the ambassador, and messenger, and priest of the Most High Father.
He is the door of the greatest temple, He the way of light, He the guide to
salvation, He the gate of life.

CHAP. XXX.--OF AVOIDING HERESIES AND SUPERSTITIONS, AND WHAT IS THE ONLY TRUE
CATHOLIC CHURCH.

But since many heresies have existed, and the people of God have been rent
into divisions at the instigation of demons, the truth must be briefly marked
out by us, and placed in its own peculiar dwelling-place, that if any one shall
desire to draw the water of life, he may not be borne to broken cisterns(2)
which hold no water, but may know the abundant fountain of God, watered by
which he may enjoy perpetual light. Before all things, it is befitting that
we should know both that He Himself and His ambassadors foretold that there
must be numerous sects and heresies,(3) which would break the unity(4) of the
sacred body; and that they admonished us to be on our guard with the greatest
prudence, lest we should at any time fall into the snares and deceits of that
adversary of ours, with whom God has willed that we should contend. Then that
He gave us sure commands, which we ought always to treasure in our minds; for
many, forgetting them, and abandoning the heavenly road, have made for themselves
devious paths amidst windings and precipices, by which they might lead away
the incautious and simple part of the people to the darkness of death: I will
explain: how this happened. There were some of our religion whose faith was
less established, or who were less learned or less cautious, who rent the unity
and divided the Church. But they whose faith was unsettled,(5) when they pretended
that they knew and worshipped God aiming at the increase of their wealth and
honour, aspired to the highest sacerdotal power; and when overcome by others
more powerful, preferred to secede with their supporters, than to endure those
set over them, over whom they themselves before desired to be set.(6)

But some, not sufficiently instructed in heavenly learning, when they were
unable to reply to the accusers of the truth, who objected that it was either
impossible or inconsistent that God should be shut up in the womb of a woman,
and that the Majesty of heaven could not be reduced to such weakness as to
become an object of contempt and derision, a reproach and mockery to men; lastly,
that He should even endure tortures, and be affixed to the accursed cross;
and when they could defend and refute all these things neither by talent nor
learning, for they did not thoroughly perceive their force and meaning, they
were perverted(7) from the right path, and corrupted the sacred writings, so
that they composed for themselves a new doctrine without any root and stability.
But some, enticed by the prediction of false prophets, concerning whom both
the true prophets and he himself had foretold, fell away from the knowledge
of God, and left the true tradition. But all of these, ensnared by frauds of
demons, which they ought to have foreseen and guarded against, by their carelessness
lost the name and worship of God. For when they are called Phrygians,(8) or
Novarians,(9) or Valentinians,(10) or Marcionites,(11) or Anthropians,(12)
or Arians,(13) or by any other name they have ceased to be Christians, who
have lost the name of Christ, and assumed human and external names. Therefore
it is the Catholic Church alone which retains true worship.

This is the fountain of truth, this is the abode of the faith, this is the
temple of God; into which if any one shall not enter, or from which if any
shall go out, he is estranged from the hope of life and eternal salvation.
No one ought to flatter himself with persevering strife. For the contest is
respecting life and salvation, which, unless it is carefully and diligently
kept in view, will be lost and extinguished. But, however, because all the
separate assemblies of heretics call themselves Christians in preference to
others, and think that theirs is the Catholic Church, it must be known that
the true Catholic Church is that in which there is confession and repentance,(1)
which treats in a wholesome manner the sins and wounds to which the weakness
of the flesh is liable. I have related these things in the meanwhile for the
sake of admonition, that no one who desires to avoid error may be entangled
in a greater error, while he is ignorant of the secret(2) of the truth. Afterwards,
in a particular and separate work, we will more fully and copiously(3) contend
against all divisions of falsehoods. It follows that, since we have spoken
sufficiently on the subject of true religion and wisdom, we discuss the subject
of justice in the next book.